


Perfectionist

by KingdomFlameVIII



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M, So if you're not into that beat it, That means Elements and things, This is Sci Fi, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-03
Updated: 2013-06-03
Packaged: 2017-12-13 20:41:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/828650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingdomFlameVIII/pseuds/KingdomFlameVIII
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes in life things don't always go the way you plan. Sometimes you're given a small coffee after paying for a large. And then sometimes your entire job is a cover for an underground resistance and your soulmate accidentally popped out the wrong goddamn gender. Unfortunately, the universe is rarely so kind as to warn you about these things ahead of time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perfectionist

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! If you're new, welcome! If you're coming from FFnet, welcome back. Not only am I reposting this, I'm also updating it a little bit, so you might find yourself seeing new scenes and hopefully much fewer typos. In case you didn't read the tags, there are gonna be some canonical abilities in this, and a lot of the last crowd that read this got really butthurt about it. So if you're not into that kind of thing, you came to the wrong place. 
> 
> I sort of have "Bad First Chapter-itis." Sorry...
> 
> So yeah, that's about everything! Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1

_Dammit! Gonna be late again!_

The tranquil silence of the stiff early morning was broken with a loud rustle of sheets as Axel scrambled to get out of bed. The redhead had this amazing ability to sleep through all manner of noises, and his screaming alarm clock was no different. This wasn't the first time he'd been late for work, if he kept it up he knew he wouldn't have said job for long.

Cursing to himself, Axel set to a very sloppy and rushed version of his morning routine. He grabbed the first pair of jeans he saw and pulling them up over the boxers he'd slept in and yanked a shirt off a hanger at random. Rather than brush his hair, he yanked it all back into a haphazard ponytail. Quickly he went into the bathroom to check himself in the mirror. Though much of his hair was contained in the band, lots hung out, sticking up in long, gravity defying spikes. He never did anything to make it look that way; he was born with it.

 _I look like Reno,_ he thought with distaste.

Reno was his brother, elder by three years, but most people mistook them for twins. They had matching personalities, as well as features, their hair was the same in color, even their voices were identical. They also each had a blatant disregard for the rules. The only immediate distinguishable difference between them was their eyes; Reno's a soft blue, whereas Axel's were piercing green. They did do a few things to help people tell them apart though. The first was the hair. They both kept it long, but Reno often tied his back in a long, low ponytail, the hair on the top of his head piled in messy spikes. Axel usually just let his go natural.

The two men also had tattoos underneath their eyes. They'd gotten them together, after their parents died in a building collapse. Axel (appropriately, he thought) got small purple teardrops in their memory. Reno got little red rims underneath each outer corner. It kind of looked like he'd been burned by a pair of riding goggles.

After looking into his own emerald eyes for a moment, Axel splashed some water onto his face to wake himself up and left the bathroom without brushing his teeth. He didn't have time to take his time.

He hurriedly gulped down some instant coffee, snatching his backpack off of the kitchen counter and rushing out the door. When he got downstairs and out the door onto the sidewalk, he hastily pulled a skateboard out of his backpack. It was a pretty juvenile way to get around, he knew, but it was much cheaper than a car, and easily fit inside of his backpack for easy transportation.

He liked his "ride" to work. Generally he left his home between seven and eight o'clock in the morning, only minutes after sunrise. He liked to watch his shadow coast through the soft, pink morning light, his shadow warping and twisting around everything he happened to pass. Even in a bustling city like Hollow Bastion, the crisp chilly mornings were peaceful.

Axel liked to watch the birds sit on telephone wires and call out to one another, especially the mourning doves. He always loved the sounds they made, even as a kid. So much so that his father taught him how to whistle through his hands to imitate their sounds.

On this particular morning he wasn't exactly paying attention to where he was going, only absently did he follow his regular route to work. Instead he watched the birds come and go from their perch, taking in their lovely serenade, until—

_CRASH_

He flew off his skateboard and would have fallen flat on his face, had he not thrown both hands out to break the fall, scraping them in the process. He slowly got up, dazed, idly wondering what it was he hit. Turning around, he realized that it wasn't a something, but a some _one_ that he'd hit. Sitting up on the pavement, clutching the side of his head, was a teenager with spikey blonde hair.

"Oh man! I'm so sorry, are you okay?" asked Axel concernedly, offering a hand to the kid.

The blonde boy glared daggers at him. Ouch. He got up, ignoring the hand he was being offered.

"What's your problem!" he demanded Axel.

So he was one of  _those_ kids. Axel was never really a fan of the snotty types that thought they were hot shit, so he fought fire with fire.

"Oh, you know, cruisin' down the street, I totally just felt like ruining someone's morning," he said with heavy sarcasm, "and when I saw you walking oh so innocently I just couldn't  _help_  hitting you and possibly giving myself a concussion in the process."

Blondie rolled his eyes. Wow, his eyes were pretty. They were large, round, and the color of the sky, except deeper. Like if the sky and the ocean were merged.  _That,_ Axel thought,  _is the color that the sky_ ** _should_**   _be._

"Yeah, whatever, watch where you're going," the blonde hissed. With that, he turned around and walked off.

Axel ran his hand through his hair. If the kid hadn't been so rude about it, he might have felt sorry for knocking him down. He  _was_ pretty cute. Axel shrugged and picked up his skateboard, which lie upside down in the street, thankfully unharmed. He continued his ride to work, this time quickly, being very careful to  _not_ pay attention to things like shadows and singing birds. After a few moments, the streets he took began to become bare of buildings and ripe with trees, littering the sidewalk with dry leaves, skidding around in the chilly autumn breeze. He sighed as he approached the ten foot tall wrought iron gate, ready for just another day.

~o~

"Axel! You're late again!"

Axel checked his watch to make sure. Ten minutes late. Damn.

He grinned sheepishly and turned his palms skyward, "Sorry, Leon. It won't happen again."

"You bet your ass it won't," the moody brunette growled, "you're the best damn guy we got here, but this can't keep up. Next time you're out on your ass, capiche?"

Axel sighed, "Yes sir."

Leon was never really the cheerful type, though usually, unlike everyone else in this godforsaken place, he just grouched around instead of bitching at everyone else, and for that Axel was grateful. The brunette manager had been quite a well-known model… once. That was before the motorcycle accident. Ever since then he had a great big scar, slashed right across his forehead, obviously rendering him incapable in working in front of the camera, at least not from the neck up. So he stood behind the camera and took over the studio that he once modeled in, leaving Axel the star prodigy.

Never once growing up did Axel ever imagine taking up the line of work that was now his career. Sure, he wasn't exactly straight, but that didn't make him a  _girl._

Originally he'd just taken a job at the studio because he needed work; Reno and Leon had been dating at the time, so Leon offered him a job mainly as an assistant His job was to carry around stuff for the photographers, manage cameras, set up lights, and the like. Well as it turned out, he  _sucked_ with cameras. He couldn't even  _touch_ them without screwing something up. Anything anyone tried to teach him would go through one ear and out the other.

He’d had a feeling he was about to lose the job when one of the models unexpectedly called in sick, leaving the photographer from one of the highest class clothing companies in Hollow Bastion with no one to shoot. So in a panic, Leon told Axel to step in, and according to everyone around him, he was very good at it.

Modeling at _Poir, First Sector, Hollow Bastion Branch_ was _not_ like modeling for most companies. Hollow Bastion was a _highly_ industrious city; about sixty to seventy percent of jobs were factory, the rest were retail. Very few corporate office buildings stayed in the area for very long, and if they did, it was because they’d originated in the city. Such was the case with _Poir._ Although many of its branches stretched across the other worlds, Hollow Bastion’s was its first.

Like any city, Hollow Bastion had advertisements and billboards plastered all over the place. However, unlike most cities, all the marketing, modeling, graphic designing, and photography was all done through _Poir._ That meant that when a company wanted a billboard, _Poir_ was the only option. Which meant that Axel had to work pretty much every day. Then there were the high-end people who came from _outside_ Hollow Bastion, who wanted their ads done from the _original Poir._ These bastards were the snootiest and pickiest of them all. But they also paid better, which is why Axel put up with them.

Axel didn't understand what made his pictures any better than anyone else's. He didn't know jack about lighting or posing or symmetry or any of that other weird shit that Leon always went on about; he just did what he was told and held still. The pictures that came out of it didn't even look like him; his bottom teeth were never crooked, his tattoos were airbrushed over, they always photoshopped some stupid fake sparkle in his eyes.

If he were to be brutally honest (which Axel usually was) he despised the modeling world. He didn't hate his  _job,_ since all he had to do was sit still and let people take his picture, but he hated the snobs he had to work with. They were all stuck up and bitch and prissy, constantly yanking him around and telling him what to eat, when to sleep, and how he had to live. Because apparently, now that he lived in the fashion world, if he didn't live off tofu he wouldn't remain as naturally skinny as a beanpole, regardless of what he ate. He hated how everyone there made such a huge fuss about something that people don't even need. Why is it  _absolutely_ necessary to be leaning at  _just_ the right angle and tip your chin upward  _just_ enough to model an eighteen hundred dollar wristwatch? Axel didn't understand it.

As soon as Leon was out of sight, Axel clocked in and grabbed his schedule for the day. Fruit of the Loom, Calvin Klein,  _and_ 2xist before noon? This was gonna be a rough morning…

~o~

As Axel was getting ready to leave for his lunch break after being yanked, twisted and pulled all morning, Leon called him back.

"Axel! Wait a moment, you need to come meet the new intern."

Axel stopped, but didn't turn around, "What for? We get a new one, like, once a month, and you know damn well I don't bother learning half of their names—"

"Because I'm assigning him to you," said Leon irritably.

This was enough to make Axel pause. This wasn’t the first time he’d been assigned an intern, but it had been a while, since the last one had to be driven away in a police car after threatening to, quote ‘tie Axel’s balls to an anchor and throw him out to sea.’ "Alright, fine…"

Axel turned around to face the newcomer, and stopped in his tracks.

"Blondie?"

He gaped at him, open mouthed. It was the same teenager Axel had knocked over with his skateboard. Blondie sneered, "If you take a picture, it'll last longer."

Axel promptly shut his mouth. Why did this kid  _hate_ him so much?

Leon seemed to be thinking the same thing, because after looking between the two of them for a moment, he stepped in and asked the blonde, "Do you two know each other? Most people don't take a disliking to him so quickly…"

Axel ran one had through his hair, "Awe come on Squally, Saïx didn't hate me," he reasoned, "and that pointy eared bastard hated  _everyone!"_

His boss rolled his eyes, "Saïx didn't hate you because you were  _sleeping_ with him, Axel. And don't call me Squall."

Axel grinned and shrugged, "So? He still always had a stick up his ass, though in my case—"

"Okay! We get the point!" Leon cut him off again, "Anyway, this is Roxas," he gestured to Blondie, "Roxas, this is Axel. You got a problem with him, get over it, 'cause you two are stuck together until further notice." And with that he stalked off, to do whatever it was managers did, leaving the two of them alone.

"Roxas, huh?" Axel liked the name. It felt cool on his tongue. Rrrrrrrrrrroxxaaaaaaassssssss…

"Yes," Roxas spat.

"What's your problem?" Axel said, just as harshly, "this can't just be because I knocked you over this morning, you know damn well it was an accident, and I  _did_ apologize you know." He stopped himself before he could get into a rant; he knew that once he got started, it'd take forever to cool down, no matter how silly the issue at hand.

Roxas glared, "Just forget it," he said coolly, looking away, "we're stuck together, so let's just try to get along."

Axel put his hands up in surrender, "That's what I've been trying to do from the start, kid."

If Roxas' dirty look had softened any, it was back now, "Don't call me kid," he growled.

Axel allowed a chuckle, "But you're so small! What are you, like 4' 11''?"

Roxas turned red, "No," he said defensively, "I'm 5' 4''! You're just freakishly huge. What are  _you,_ seven feet tall?"

"Ooh, burn," said Axel, laughing again, "does it matter? If you must know I'm 6' 3''. How old are you anyway? You look kinda younger than the rest of the interns we usually see around here."

"Asshole, I’m nineteen," he deadpanned. "I'm an undergrad at HBU."

Nineteen huh? He  _was_ pretty cute.

"Well,  _Roxas_ ," he emphasized the name as to show he wasn't calling the kid 'kid,' "I'm on my break right now, and you're taking up precious time," he pretended to check his watch, "So if you wanna keep chattin', you're gonna have to come with me."

Roxas snorted, "No thanks, I'll stay here."

"Okay, suit yourself," Axel winked at him, then continued out the door and headed for his favorite coffee shop, to meet up with his favorite person.

~o~

"Axel! You're late, man, your coffee's getting cold."

"Sorry, dude, I was chatting with the new intern," said Axel, sitting down at his usual seat with the sandy haired man that had called out to him. His hair was styled into a mullet slash faux hawk, the result of an accident some years back. Although Demyx refuses to say why it won’t grow back, over the years Axel has been able to infer that it involved four goats, a grilled cheese sandwich, a garden gnome, and a flamethrower.

"Another one?" Demyx asked, "Man, Leon goes through them like I go through hair gel."

"I think that's because they all leave within the month, Demyx." Axel laughed.

Demyx laughed too. "Yeah, Leon's a bit of a handful isn't he?" He started taking the creamers out of the little dish at their booth and stacking them into towers.

"Yeah. I don't know what he thinks he's playing at, pairing the poor guy with me, of all people, he'll be running away  _screaming._ "

"Screaming your  _name,_  maybe," said Demyx, winking at him.

"Pft, no way, the kid hates me," said Axel almost wistfully.

"Screaming your name with a hatchet in his hand of course!" said Demyx, thumping him on the back of his head, "Get your mind out of the gutter."

"Well…" Axel began, "he  _is_  pretty cute."

Demyx put one hand over his heart, "Why Axie, I'm hurt," he said in a false lament.

"Well if that's the case," Axel started, "then I'm hurt over Marluxia, Barrett, and What's-His-Face with the eyepatch." He smirked.

"Oh, cut it out," said Demyx, "You know I'm kidding. Besides you're one to talk, you broke the rules," he made a face, "you slept with a  _girl._ "

Axel wiggled two fingers at him, "Two things," he said, "One, I don't think Larxene really counts as a girl. And if we're gonna go down that road, two, I don't think Marluxia really counts as a man."

Demyx laughed, "Oh he's a dude alright. He was packing, like, eleven inches downstairs."

Axel (a mere eight) put his hand over his heart, "Why, Demyx, I'm hurt," he mocked.

Demyx waved his hand dismissively. "Sex life aside, how's your day going?"

Axel shrugged, "Same old same old," he said, "Leon's still bitching, the lights keep flashing, and the best is never good enough."

Demyx reached across the table for Axel's hand, intertwining their fingers, "Are you unhappy there?" he asked softly. It was a question Axel had heard many times over. He was touched that his boyfriend was as concerned as he was over Axel’s happiness, but in a way he wished the topic would stop coming up. It made him think too much.

"No," Axel replied. "Not unhappy per say. Just nobody there likes me. But they don't like anybody, I don't take it personally, it just—"

"Gets lonely," Demyx offered.

"Yeah."

They sipped at their coffees in silence until it was almost time for Axel to leave. After checking his watch and realizing the time, Axel stood up, "Well, I gotta get going," he sighed, tossing his empty cup into a nearby trash can, "I might get home a little bit late, I don't know how long it'll take to show the new guy the ropes."

Demyx nodded, "Okay. I'll see you later."

Axel embraced the shorter man and kissed him softly on the lips.

"Love you," Demyx said.

"Yeah. You too…" said Axel.

Axel still wasn't really comfortable with having an open relationship. He'd only agreed to it to make Demyx happy. He wanted to believe that what he and Demyx had was love…

~o~

_He jiggled his key in the faulty lock until the door swung open. He assumed that since the door had been locked, nobody was at home. So he decided to try and get a shower in before Demyx got home._

_Except the shower was already occupied; Demyx_ was _home, and he was making out, half naked, in the bathtub with some blonde with like ten earrings and a stupid little beard._

 _Axel stopped dead. He didn't know what to do. How was he supposed to react? What was one supposed to do after catching their boyfriend_ cheating  _on them? Drunk, too, by the smell of it. He cleared his throat. Demyx looked up at him, horrified._

_He was gonna go with the classic, 'what the fuck is this?' but then his Axel gene took over._

" _Not to_ interrupt  _anything," he snapped, "but would you mind taking that somewhere else? I was kind of hoping I'd be able to take a shower."_

_Demyx started stammering and sputtering nonsense words. Axel ignored them, not even bothering to try to make sense of it. He didn't want to hear explanations. He turned to leave the room, "I'll leave you two to wrap up, I see how it is."_

" _No! Please Axel wait!" Demyx cried, his voice completely broken._

" _If you wanted me to join you, the answer's no," Axel hissed, slamming the door behind him._

 _He went into his bedroom,_ their  _bedroom, and locked the door. He didn't know who to be angrier at. Demyx? Or himself? Should he have seen this coming? Was it_ his _fault? What was he to Demyx, just some fuck toy? He felt so stupid for having been naïve enough to believe he loved him._

_He cupped his hands together and blew into his thumbs, like his father taught him how to do when he was small. He closed his eyes and took in the sound, trying to steady his heart rate, trying to make sense of his scattered thoughts and ignore all the emotions running through his body._

_He felt sickened. He'd never even_ considered _cheating, ever, not on anybody. He and Demyx had only been dating for a few months, but what did that matter? You just don't_ do _that. He never hooked up with Saïx again when he called, no matter how many times he was asked._

 _He put his head in his hands. He couldn't believe that_ Demyx  _would do that to him, of all people._

 _The uncomfortable silence was broken by an unfamiliar voice, shouting. Axel didn't like it, having some prick he didn't even know yelling in_ his  _apartment, at_ his  _boyfriend, albeit his unfaithful boyfriend._

 _Demyx was crying now, Axel heard. He felt a surge of anger wash through him. He resisted going out there and punching the living daylights out of the stranger, though the bigger part of him still believed that Demyx_ deserved  _to cry._

_Then he heard a sharp cry of pain and a thud of flesh on hard wood; the stranger had hit him. That was the last straw. Cheater or not, nobody touches Demyx._

_He bolted off his bed (their bed)and swung the door open with so much force that it slammed against the wall, breaking the sheet rock and leaving a hole._

_The man was standing over Demyx, who was sprawled on the floor, his hands brought up to protect his face. The blonde stopped dead and looked at Axel, his icy eyes narrowed and he shrunk back a bit. Axel had never seen himself angry, but he imagined it must have been terrifying, as he generally got a similar response from most people._

_He strode over to the man, who quickly began taking several steps backward, but Axel was faster than him. He caught up quickly and punched the asshole square in the face, sending him down flat on his ass. Axel grabbed as much of the short platinum blonde hair as he could, crouching down and glaring menacingly at the man._

" _Get the fuck out, now." He snarled, throwing the man to the ground. Without another word the man scrambled to his feet and booked it out the door._

_He turned to Demyx, who was still sitting on the floor, sobbing like a child. Most of Axel's anger had gone by then; he'd taken it out on Mr. High and Mighty with his stupid earrings. He scooped Demyx up and set him down on the couch._

" _Why?!" he demanded._

_Demyx sniffled a few times, then wiped away the tears that had been cascading freely down his face. When he was done tidying himself up he shifted his gaze warily to Axel._

" _Axel… how would you feel about an open relationship?"_

_~o~_

Axel was still thinking about Demyx when he skidded his board to a stop at the mansion in which he worked. Roxas sat on the swinging bench, no doubt awaiting Axel's return. He waved to the blonde as he kicked his board up and put it away in his back.

"What do we do first? Roxas asked him, following Axel through the ornate mahogany doors.

Axel checked his schedule, "I have a shoot to go to," he said, "I guess you're supposed to follow me around watch what I do. Most of it's pretty tedious though, and I swear I spend more time in hair and makeup than I do in front of the camera—"

"Wait," Roxas interjected, "I'm not a model, I'm a photographer."

"Really?" Axel asked. He'd just assumed that the blonde was a model, being paired with him and everything. He was pretty enough to be anyway.

"Yeah," Roxas answered, going red, "why do you reckon they paired me with you, then? What good is it for me to just follow you around and watch you pose?"

Axel shrugged, "I've been told I'm easy to pose, maybe Leon didn't want to start you off with too big a challenge," he suggested neutrally.

Roxas snorted, "Being around you is challenge enough."

"Ouch, that hurts, Roxy," the redhead teased.

"Don't call me Roxy," Roxas snapped in response.

"Can I ask you something?" Axel asked, changing his tone to something less mocking. Roxas gave him a cynical look, but nodded anyways. "Are you always this moody? Or is there a specific reason for your being so, for lack of a better word, pissy today? Or is it just me?"

For the first time all day, Roxas' glare softened, the creases around his eyes and mouth smoothing over.

"No, I'm not usually  _this_ mad," he said quietly, "didn't know what to expect I guess."

Understandable, Axel reasoned. A new job can be stressful on anyone, he couldn't blame Roxas for having his guard up. Axel decided not to press the matter anymore; he could be an asshole when he wanted to be, but for some reason or another he really didn't want to push it with this kid.

"Shoot's in room sixteen," said Axel casually, "third floor."

 _Poir, First Sector, Hollow Bastion Branch_ was located in a very strange building. The hallways and lobbies kept its original Victorian décor, though the wallpaper was peeling and some of the older statuettes were beginning to collect cobwebs. It was very dimly lit, all of the lamps were ornate as well as the wood and plasterwork, and every inch of the wall was covered in old portraits.

Despite all that, _Poir_ was still the highest-regarded advertising company around; Axel saw his face plastered all over the city: Subway stations, park benches, magazines, and on the rare occasion a billboard or two.

"Pick a staircase," he said as he led Roxas into the main hall. He smirked in amusement as Roxas' jaw dropped as in took in the almost eerie settings. He turned to Axel with a skeptical expression on his face.

"Playboy mansion much?" he asked in a snide voice. It seemed as though his snobby attitude was back.

"Oh yeah," said Axel sarcastically, "by the time you're done takin' shots of  _me_ you'll have to change your pants."

Roxas made a 'tcheh,' noise and followed Axel through the large, echoing atrium.

"Go on, pick one," said Axel, gesturing to the two staircases on opposing ends of the room they were faced with (what would anyone ever need two staircases for, anyway, he used to wonder). Roxas shrugged his shoulders and pointed towards the closer one.

"Don't touch the railing," Axel instructed, "you'll get a splinter." He held up his left hand to show a small white scar at the base of his palm, "I learned the hard way."

"Ouch," said Roxas, leaning over to more closely inspect the scar, "On your  _hand_ too."

Axel shrugged his shoulders, "That was years ago."

~o~

" _You want a_ what? _" Axel asked, confused._

" _Umm, it's like…" Demyx began, "It's like when we can uhh, like, sleep with other people._

_On any other occasion Axel would have teased him about his obnoxious use of the word 'like' and his inability to use a comma instead, but at this point it was all he could do to not grab his (ex?) boyfriend by the shoulders and shake him. He didn't like the idea at all. "So, what, you mean we just become friends with benefits?"_

" _No!" Demyx all but shouted, "No, no. It's like, we're still boyfriends, but we_ ** _have_**   _friends with benefits."_

" _Why do you want them? Do you think our sex life is boring?" Axel asked._

_Demyx should his head, "No, our sex life is fine. I just like having something new once in a while."_

_Axel noted the use of 'something' instead of 'someone.' If sex was just an object to Demyx, maybe he could deal with this. "Please be straight with me," said Axel, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Do you even care about me? At all?"_

_Demyx immediately pounced on Axel and buried his face in his hair, sobbing again, "Yeah, Axel, I do. I…I know I f-fucked up bad. And I—" gulp "—hurt you… I wasn't t-trying to, and you probably hate me now, and I totally understand if you like never wanna talk to me again but I'm so so sorry and I love you and—"_

_He was rambling now. Axel really truly wanted to believe what Demyx was telling him. He didn't know if he could._

" _Demyx, shut up," he spat harshly. Demyx shut up, but continued to sob silently into his shoulder._

_Axel made no attempt to push his lover off of him, but didn't hold him either. He cupped his hands together and blew, as he had several minutes before. He still needed to clear his head, and calm himself down. Most people drank, he did this. Demyx was familiar with the action, so he didn't question it._

_He knew this wasn't right. It didn't feel right. He only wanted Demyx. Why didn't Demyx only want him? He should've broken it off then. But he didn't want to lose Demyx. In all reality, the cute brunette was all he really had left. His parents were dead, Reno was off being some top secret military spy or whatever in Midgar, all of his high school friends were gone…_

" _I'll think about it," Axel said after what seemed like hours. Maybe they could make it work, it was at least worth a shot. When Axel fell in love, he fell_ ** _hard._**   _He knew this about himself, and he knew he'd do stupid things to try to make it work. He knew he'd probably regret this someday, but he still loved Demyx. He just wanted everything to be okay…_

_~o~_

"Axel? Isn't that room sixteen?"

He stopped. He'd been so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn't realize that they'd walked right past the room they were supposed to be doing the shoot in.

"Oh, yeah…" said Axel absently, "Sorry, I zoned out a little," he chuckled airily as he headed towards the gleaming mahogany door, stamped with a bronze 16.

"Do that often do you?" Roxas asked amusedly."

"Actually I do. If I don't answer you right away you might have to slap me," he joked.

Roxas cracked a smile, "I'll hold you to that," he said sinisterly. What a little shit.

They entered the room and Roxas blinked a few times. It was set up exactly as it should be; lights, giant cameras, glossy linoleum tiled floors, backdrops. All very professional. Axel supposed that compared to the rest of the house the transition would be drastic to a newcomer.

Fiddling with the camera was a tall man with a toned figure, a heart shaped face and bubble gum pink hair falling down to his shoulders. His entire face lit up like Christmas when he saw Axel approaching him.

"Hey pyro!" He exclaimed cheerfully, "it's been too long, man!"

Axel gave a little wave, not expecting to see him back at work so soon, "Marly? What are you doing here? I thought you were in for… surgery?"

Marluxia waved a hand, "I chickened out," he said, laughing, "had it my whole life, you know? I took a little time off anyway 'coz my folks were home from touring for a little bit. Whoever said theatric arts was an easy business needs to be taught a lesson; I couldn’t get them to stop bitching!"

"Umm sure," said Axel, shaking his head, "Well I'm glad you're still you. It'd sure have been a waste, according to Demyx," he said, winking.

"Oh yeah, how is Demyx?" asked Marluxia conversationally.

"He's good, he's good," said Axel honestly, "So you're our paparazzi today, huh?"

"Yep!" said Marluxia happily, "You a new model?" he asked, addressing Roxas for the first time.

Roxas turned red again. "No…" he mumbled, "Why does everyone think that? I'm a photographer."

"Awe, lighten up, kid, it's a compliment," said Marluxia lightly, clapping him on the back, "It's only ‘cause you’re sexy."

"Can we just start?" Roxas asked weakly, turning to Axel for help.

Marluxia just seemed to realize that it was time for work, not social hour, "Oh! Right you are." he said in his get-down-to-business voice, "Seriously, though, loosen up. So if you’re not a model you must be…” he snapped his fingers in recognition, “the new intern, right! Do you have some kind of portfolio you have to do?"

"Umm, yeah, actually, I do," said Roxas, "should I use my own camera or—"

"Naw," said Marluxia, "I mean you can alternate if you want, but we're all set up here. You're one of us now, right? That means the set's all yours."

Roxas was clearly surprised at how welcoming the two of them were being. Axel supposed he had probably been expecting a bunch of Leons when he signed up. Which, admittedly, was pretty much what the rest of the company was like, except they bitched a lot more in shrilly, high-pitched voices. Even Leon was cooler than that.

"All of you so damn friendly?" Roxas asked, approaching the camera and confirming Axel's suspicions.

"You got lucky with me and Marly," Axel said, "Everyone else around here is mostly a prissy little bitch."

"Yep!" said Marluxia cheerfully, "Fortunately for you, you got paired with Team Awesome for the first day."

"Team Awesome?" Axel and Roxas asked simultaneously. Roxas caught his eye but quickly looked away, "Okay, Axel, can you please go sit in front of the backdrop?"

Shrugging, Axel did what he was told. "How do you want me?" he asked. It was a pretty standard question in his line of work; he was used to being poked, prodded and re-positioned over and over again. Seriously, if he was an exceptionally  _good_ model, he didn't even want to know what the average one went through daily.

Roxas was still preparing the camera and shifting the focus, "Just put on whatever I'm supposed to be shooting, I'll be ready in a minute."

Axel looked at Marluxia expectantly. The pinkette didn't skip over to the wardrobe like he usually did. "It's a cologne ad," he said, "and your clothes are fine. So just kind of let your hair down, unbutton your shirt and put this on," he handed him a simple silver chain.

Axel nodded and slipped on the chain, pulling the rubber band out of his hair as he did so.

"Ready for me Roxy?" he asked, repositioning himself in front of the camera.

"Don't call me Roxy," the blonde responded disinterestedly, in an ‘I've-told-you-once-I've-told-you-a-thousand-times’ voice, "and yes, I'm ready."

"Okay, so what should I do?"

Roxas studied him carefully a moment. Axel thought it only fair that since he was being stared at, he could stare back. Upon closer inspection he could see that unless the kid used really damn good hairspray, the wild style he went about wearing was completely natural. It was full and soft looking. He wasn't wearing any makeup, and in Axel's opinion, he really didn't need it. And he could still not get over those eyes. No matter what they were doing, whether they be glaring, smiling, glazed over in thought, or staring intensely at him like they were now, they were beautiful.

"Just… hmm. Kind of relax. Support some of your weight on your hands, and fold one foot under the other. Sit like… like," he scrunched up his face in thought, "Like a mermaid on a rock."

Axel was a little bit taken aback. He'd never been told to relax before. He quickly tried to envision the pose Roxas was asking of him. He imagine a mermaid, her tail fin bent like knees, sitting almost lazily with her hands resting on the surface of a rock.

He tried to imitate the picture he had in his head. He bent his knees as one, tucking one foot under the other as Roxas had instructed. He supported his upper body with one hand so he was sitting up, the other one draped casually over the curve of his waist.

"Is this okay?" he asked. He was expecting Roxas to slap on of his hands away or roughly grab his knees and position them the right way, or for him to grab his face and tilt it around like a hairdresser. But he didn't. He took a step back to observe and then nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. Pretend to be looking up at something intriguing, and hold still."

Axel angled his head and tilted it up the way he had a thousand times. He tried to imagine that he was looking at Demyx. He pictured his sandy hair, his childlike smile. For some reason the eyes wouldn't come to him. Instead of seeing the icy blue he was used to, a deep cerulean instead kept coming to mind…

"Axel? You can look down now."

"Mm? Oh!" He'd zoned out again, "How's it look?"

"Fine," Roxas stated flatly, "I need a natural one," he said to Marluxia. He said it like a question.

Natural? Axel had never been told to look natural before in a picture, ever. What was he even supposed to do?

"I… I don't know how," he confessed.

Marluxia laughed, "It means you make a smile and hold still, Axe. Like for a family picture."

That didn't sound too hard. "Oh… okay, I'll try it I guess," he said. He sat up so that his knees were bent out in front of him, like he would if he were playing a video game. That seemed like a "natural" enough pose to him.

"Okay, now look at the camera and smile," said Roxas, sounding amused.

Axel gave the camera his most charming smile. Roxas 'tsked' at him when he saw the photo.

"It looks forced, and fake," he said disapprovingly, "when I say I want a natural smile, I don't mean 'cover-of-sports-illustrated,' I mean, 'I'm-happy-to-be-here.' Can you make him laugh, Marluxia?"

Axel didn't realize that there was a difference between the smile he gave to the camera and a genuine one. One would think that with all the time he'd spent modeling that he'd have been given some kind of course on facial expressions. Looks like he still had a lot to learn.

"Hey Axel, Have you ever tried to  _sneeze_  while you're takin' a piss? It's  _frightening_ , isn't it? It's frightening 'cause actually you  _can't do it!_  It's  _physically_  impossible to _sneeze_  while pissing! Your  _brain_ won't let it happen!"

"Umm, sure?" said Axel questioningly, amused but not yet smiling, "What are you getting at?"

"Well, your brain says: STOP  _PISSING!_  WE'RE GOING TO  _SNEEZE_ NOW! 'Cause your brain _knows_...you might blow your asshole out," said Marluxia in a matter-of-fact tone.

He wasn't sure if it was the tone of voice Marluxia said it in, the spontaneity of it, or even such a random response to the topic in question. Whatever it was, it had Axel laughing his ass off.

_Click._

He blinked from the sudden exposure to bright light. He got the rest of his giggles out before rubbing his eyes and turning towards Roxas.

"Well? Was that one better?" he asked.

Roxas checked it and Axel spotted the ghost of a smile coast over the blonde's lips. "Yeah," he said amusedly, "It's good."

Marluxia approached Roxas, "Okay, I'm gonna step in now and do the rest. Roxas, your picture will be submitted with the rest of them as part of the collection, and you'll get copies for your portfolio," he assured him, "For the rest of the shoot, you just get to stand behind me and observe."

Roxas nodded and stepped to the side, making room for the pinkette.

Marluxia cracked his knuckles menacingly and smirked deviously at Axel, "Alright, Axe, let's see what you got."

~o~

"I guess I've got quite a bit to learn about posing people," said Roxas, the blush that shone a bright red across his cheeks finally fading to a rosy pink, "I didn't realize just how…  _suggestive_  cologne ads were supposed to be."

"Don't take advice from Marly," Axel said, buttoning his shirt, "Sexy is his specialty. If any one person came close to turning this place into a playboy mansion, it was him. Almost had Leon convinced, too."

"I won't have to be taking any  _nudes,_  will I?" Roxas asked cautiously.

Axel laughed a little bit, "No silly. Worst you might have to do is the occasional lingerie. Hope you're not too into girls, because Selphie, that brunette girl we passed on the way up here, probably has the biggest tits in the world. She knows it and she shows it."

"Are all of you sluts around here?" Roxas asked sarcastically.

"Part of the job description, Rox," Axel joked, clapping the blonde on the shoulder, "You'll be sleeping with the models in no time."

Roxas shook the hand off, "You're disgusting."

"Relax k—Roxas. I was just kidding. No, not everyone around here is a slut. And if they are, most of them are –ahem- classy about it.  _I'm_ not a slut."

Roxas snorted, "I find  _that_ hard to believe."

Axel put a hand over his heart, imitating Demyx for the second time that day, "Why Roxy, I'm hurt."

As soon as he did it, he felt terrible. He was definitely flirting. If this wasn't flirting, he didn't know what was. And not only that, but he teased Roxas, this little snot this… _teenager,_  exactlythe same was he and his  _boyfriend_  teased each other.  _Remember Axel! You're with DEMYX. That means ix-nay on the flirt-tay!_ Even though technically he was allowed to flirt, he didn’t want to. He didn't want multiple partners. True, he had slept with Larxene… or he was told he had done. He couldn't actually remember why he'd woken up in her apartment, the last thing he remembered about that night was going to the club with Demyx. And that beside, he couldn't see Roxas as a piece of ass anyway.

This would be a problem.


End file.
